Fight Against Boko Haram: Nigeria Army Redeploys Top Generals

Nigeria has named its fourth commander in 14 months to lead the fight against the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, an army spokesman said on Friday.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned in 2015 on a promise to end the insurgency and deliver security, is now seeking re-election in February 2019. But the war, entering its 10th year, and the humanitarian crisis it spawned show little sign of ending.

The appointment of Major General A.M. Dikko is “aimed at injecting new hands to further actualise the vision of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai,” the spokesman said in a statement.

The statement did not say what had happened to Rogers Nicholas, the commander since December.

The government has been saying since December 2015 that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated”. Yet attacks continue in the northeast while another group, an ally of the Islamic State militant group that split from Boko Haram in 2016, holds territory around Lake Chad.